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The concept behind these actuators was presented in the late-breaking results of the RoboSoft 2018 conference in Livorno, Italy (see poster). These actuators are the subject of a journal paper currently under review.

“Vacuum bellows” are membrane-reinforced contractile actuators that are subjected to negative internal gauge pressures. Though a popular research topic at the moment, the ideas behind these actuators are ancient. My work explored the effect of ring spacing on the actuator performance. My model reveals that by spacing the rings far apart, it is possible to achieve forces many times greater than an equivalent-diameter vacuum cylinder at the same pressure.

The inductance sensing techniques I developed for fiber-reinforced soft actuators can also be applied to soft pneumatic bellows. Working with Pneubotics, I demonstrated inductance sensing on a unique bellows-driven continuum joint. The paper was a finalist for the Best Systems Paper at Robotics: Science & Systems 2017.

I developed inductance sensing techniques for the continuum joints of this bellows-driven robot. Image Credit: Pneubotics

Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Enclosures or FREEs are a class of cylindrical soft pneumatic actuators that can rotate as they contract or extend. Previous descriptions of these actuators were unwieldy and required complex iterative evaluations to predict the kinematic behavior. The model I developed dramatically simplifies the description of the actuators into a closed-form kinematic model with three design parameters and one state.

Working with my PhD advisor, C. David Remy, I pioneered the use of real-time measurements of metabolic cost to drive the online optimization of human assistance devices. The methods described in our early work have been adapted and used by some of the top researchers in human motion assistance.